Taking a stab at GP Providence

Hey folks. I have returned from GP Providence with some bad news. I am a total scrub. Haha, just kidding. But no seriously, going to GP Providence was quite the experience and I thought I would share what I learned from my experiences at the event. Especially what some of you should remember to do when you leave to go to a large scale tournament.Get plenty of sleep

I found out at my FNM that I had a shot to go to GP Providence. I was pretty excited because I would finally get some real play in with my Elf combo deck. I have been playing it casually a whole lot and have gotten in some play testing whenever I could. I knew what a good hand was, a bad hand, and what to do when the Glimpse fizzles. But I really was itching to get some real playing in. My ride told me we would be departing from Albany, NY around 5am, so he suggested I not stay for the full FNM. I should have taken his advice. I went 3-2 with ghetto Jumanji and got home to my apartment around 12am. I then had to make sure Elves was ready and packed a lunch and my bag and told the appropriate people I would be seeing them there. I got a lil side tracked talking to some people on Twitter for last minute tips and before I knew it it was already 2am. I figured I might as well just suck it up and stay up. This turned out to be a bad idea. While it didn’t effect my playing ability, it did make me too tired to do my other job as a writer for Red Site Wins and by the time I scrubbed out all I wanted to do was play a Commander side event. But in hindsight, I really wouldn’t recommend playing tired. Its easier to go on tilt while tired and miss big play big.

Buddy System

The first time I went to a big tournament, my friends and I all wore fedoras. It was one part joke and one part serious measure as team mates. But it sure as hell made finding them easier. This time I went with a different crew of people and right off the bat we were a man down. The number of people at the GP was well over 1,200. If you are going to go with peeps come up with a system on how to find each other. Eventually my crew just gave up. I was the easiest to find since I was wearing a red dress and made it easy for each other. Anyway, after getting there I sat down and filled out all my paper work. I ran into Frank(@livewithfrank) from Crazy Talk and had to give him the bad news that I did not have a playable Starved Rusalka for him. After him I ran into Tony Pagliocco and his wife. You guys know him as T-Pup, who wrote about Mono-White Control in Standard.

From there I went to my players meeting with some rather un-talkative people. It was a lil awkward for me. I usually have a blast at these because they help lose my nerves and allow me to get into the zone. But whatever. I ran into some more local peeps and cruised the dealers. A lot of stores were there, but being the broke person I am, I didn’t get to cash in on cheap GP deals. I heard Round 1 Pairings were up and headed over to find where I was seated.

Rounds 1-4

I would normally do this well written out explanation about how each round went and so on and so forth. But to be honest, I didn’t do anything spectacular and neither did my opponents. Round 1 I played against a BUG list that had 4 Jace the Mind Sculptors. It didn’t do much game 1 and even though I never got to combo off, 6 elves on the board got there for 20 points of damage over the course of 5-6 turns. Games 2 and 3 were blow outs. I got to try to live the dream game 3 but I fizzled and a Pernicious Deed sealed my doom.

Round 2 I was a little nervous. My opponent played the turn one island followed by an Aether Vial. Fish, just what I wanted to see early. But he apparently never drew the counter and I got a nice board of 12 elves. Needles to say, game is over. Here is where things get evil. Game 2 I got to go nuts and play pretty much all my elves. I had my graveyard set up in a way to remember to pay for my Summoner’s Pact. However, for some reason a judge watching my game moved my Glimpse of Nature and but it on top of Summoner’s Pact. Seeing as how it been a while since everything resolved I never noticed and when it was my turn again I did my check of the graveyard and went to draw….and lost. I was on serious tilt and proceeded to lose that game. In my head, I count it as a loss and my opponent, when he found out why I forgot wanted to give me the win. But being the good girl I am, I gave it to him. He won I lost. Whatever.

Round 3 I played against another person I know from Albany, but I don’t know her well enough. I think I’ve seen her at pre-releases and releases. Anyway, she was playing the Charbelcher deck. Not a good match-up for elves. Game 1 she mulled to 6 and was on the play. She passed turn without doing anything. Puzzled I played my Verdant Catacombs, got a forest and played Fyndhorn Elves. Then on her turn she went the distance and won. Fun times. Games 2 and 3, however were Magical Christmas Land for me. You’d think I fixed my deck. Dream hands and draws and her getting total crap. Game 2 she had to play her Simian Spirit Guide just to have a blocker. Game 3 I went infinite on turn 2 and played Emrakul. GG? Yeah, fun times.

Round 4 I was happy my last game was against a kooky deck. So we all know Show and Tell right? Well, maybe the deck plays something like Hive Mind then casts Pact of the Titan and you counter your own Pact of the Titan with Pact of Negation. Your opponent is left with two upkeep costs they can’t pay. Right? Well, I played against Show and Tell Dream Halls. With Conflux and Magister Sphinx and Cruel Ultimatum. Oh, well. I don’t know what to say. My opponent was a cool dude and super fun to joke around with. Which made losing to him so much easier.

Afterwards

Got to say that because I was so tired the only thing I did afterwards was hustle some poor dude in a four man Commander pod and say hi to KYT from Manadeprived. He was pretty cool and he signed my Mortarpod, which I know one day will mean that Mortarpod will be worth quality money. Otherwise, it was uneventful. Even though I went 1-3, I left the GP with a lot of confidence and my head held high. Next stop GP Montreal!

As you can all see it is a pretty standard Combo Elves. I am keeping my sideboard a secret because I am working on a new brew and I want it to be a surprise. Believe it or not, someone knew what Red Site Wins was at the GP. Go figure.

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Amanda Stevens

My name is Amanda and I am a nerd. This fact will taint everything that will ever come out of my mouth. While I follow real world news, you would never know it. I prioritize most of my conversations around Magic the Gathering, anime, and League of Legends. Also, don't mention Green Lantern being gay to me, you will regret it.